Robert Downey Jr. Had A Hilarious Reaction To Seeing Chris Hemsworth As Thor For The First Time
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in its fourth phase, introducing new characters to the franchise (Shang-Chi, the Eternals) and giving some of the established players more enthralling adventures. The newest movies and TV shows have helped fans get over the emotional, bittersweet, and heartbreaking events that took place in "Avengers: Endgame" — a movie that did a great job at making the titular superhero team look like one big happy family.
That being said, the actors who played the Avengers throughout the first three phases weren't always best buddies behind the scenes. Once upon a time, they had to go through the awkward phase of getting to know each other and dealing with their insecurities.
Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye in several MCU movies and his own Disney+ series, recently revealed that Robert Downey Jr. wasn't exactly into the idea of being outshone by Chris Hemsworth when he debuted as Thor all those years ago. So, what went down exactly?
Robert Downey Jr. wanted to hurt Chris Hemsworth
Some MCU stars have been open about feeling self-conscious around Chris Hemsworth. In a recent interview with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast (via ComicBook), Jeremy Renner recalled the Marvel cast's first meeting with the Australian actor and how Robert Downey Jr. didn't approve of Hemsworth.
According to Renner, the cast members were all parading around in their superhero costumes at the time and "feeling ridiculous." However, the sight of Hemsworth made Downey Jr. feel inferior. "[We] didn't know this Hemsworth guy, because he comes from Australia. And he's the tallest, he's the most good-looking," Renner recalled. "Downey was like, 'We gotta break his knee. We gotta take him out. This guy's too good-looking. He's too tall, he's too charming, f*** this guy.'"
Other Marvel stars have called out the Thor star for being too handsome since then as well. As Inside the Magic points out, Chris Pratt once asked the Australian actor to "stop working out" since they're both going to be in the next "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie together and he wants Star-Lord to be viewed as the resident stud.